Monday, May 15, 2017

National Transportation Safety Board Opens Docket on Teterboro Aviation Accident InvestigationFebruary 07, 2018​WASHINGTON (Feb. 7, 2018) — The National Transportation Safety Board opened the public docket Wednesday on its ongoing investigation of a Gates Learjet 35A crash that occurred during a circling approach to a runway at Teterboro Airport, Teterboro, New Jersey, killing both crewmembers.The docket contains over 900 pages of factual information including: investigative group reports, witness statements, interview summaries and a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder. It does not provide analysis, findings, recommendations or probable cause determinations. No conclusions about how or why an accident occurred should be drawn from the docket.The docket opening marks a transition in the investigative process where the majority of facts needed for the investigation have been gathered and the NTSB can move ahead with analysis of those facts. Opening the docket affords those with a need and desire for its contents the opportunity to review what factual information has been gathered about the accident. Any analysis, findings, recommendations, or probable cause determinations related to the accident will be issued by the Board at a later date.The docket can be viewed at https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms

The National Transportation Safety Board traveled to the scene of this accident.Additional Participating Entities:Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Teterboro, New JerseyBombardier; Montreal, QuebecHoneywell; Phoenix, ArizonaAviation Accident Preliminary Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfhttp://registry.faa.gov/N452DALocation: Teterboro, NJAccident Number: CEN17MA183Date & Time: 05/15/2017, 1529 EDTRegistration: N452DAAircraft: GATES LEARJET 35AInjuries: 2 FatalFlight Conducted Under: Part 91: General Aviation - Positioning On May 15, 2017, at 1529 eastern daylight time, a Gates Learjet 35A, N452DA, operated by Trans-Pacific Jets, departed controlled flight while on a circling approach to runway 1 at the Teterboro Airport (TEB), Teterboro, New Jersey, and impacted a commercial building and parking lot. The captain and first officer died; no one on the ground was injured. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The airplane was registered to A&C Big Sky Aviation LLC and operated by Trans-Pacific Air Charter LLC under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a positioning flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan was filed. The flight departed from the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about 1504 and was destined for TEB.The accident flight was the crewmembers' third flight of the day. The first flight departed TEB about 0732 on a Part 91 positioning flight and landed about 0815 at the Laurence G. Hanscom Field (BED), Bedford, Massachusetts, where they refueled and boarded a passenger. They departed BED about 1009 on a Part 135 on-demand charter flight and landed at PHL about 1104.The captain filed an IFR flight plan to TEB planning a 28-minute flight at a cruising altitude of flight level 270 (27,000 feet) with a cruise speed of 441 knots and a departure time of 1430. After departure about 1504, the flight was cleared to climb to 4,000 feet above mean sea level (msl). The flight reached a maximum altitude of 4,000 feet msl. About 1515, the flight was cleared to descend to 3,000 ft msl. The New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) cleared the flight for the TEB ILS Runway 6 Approach, circle to land runway 1. TRACON instructed the flight to switch frequencies and contact TEB air traffic control (ATC) about 9 miles from the airport; however, the flight did not check onto the ATC's frequency until 4 miles from the airport. ATC cleared the flight to land on runway 1 and issued the TEB winds of 320 degrees at 16 knots, gusting to 32 knots.Radar track data indicated that the flight did not start its right circling turn until it was less than 1 mile from the approach end of runway 6. According to TEB ATC, aircraft typically start the right turn at the final approach fix for runway 6, which is located 3.8 nm from the approach end of runway 6.A TEB ATC controller reported that he observed the airplane bank hard to the right and he could see the belly of the airplane with the wings almost perpendicular to the ground. The airplane then appeared to level out for just a second or two before the left wing dropped, showing the entire top of the airplane. Other ground witnesses also reported that they observed the airplane in a right turn with the wings in a high angle of bank. Some witnesses described seeing the airplane's wings "wobbling" before the left wing dropped and the airplane descended to the ground. Security video cameras installed at numerous commercial buildings also captured the last moments of the flight, showing the airplane at high angles of bank. One security camera showed the airplane in a steep right wing low, nose down attitude at impact.The accident site was located on a 180-degree bearing about 1/2 nautical miles from the threshold of runway 1 at TEB. The main wreckage was distributed in the parking lots of commercial businesses. The wreckage path and debris field was about 440 ft. long on a 135-degree heading, and 3 buildings and 16 vehicles were damaged by impact or fire. Although impact forces and postcrash fire destroyed and consumed much of the airplane, the examination of the wreckage revealed that all components of the airplane were located at the accident site.The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was located in the wreckage and was sent to the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Vehicle Recorder Laboratory. The CVR was auditioned by NTSB senior management staff and found to be operating at the time of the accident. A CVR Group will be formed and a transcript of the flight will be produced.Four other airplane components that store non-volatile memory (NVM) and an iPhone were collected and sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorder Laboratory for examination. All 4 components and the iPhone exhibited impact and fire damage. The 4 components were: 2 Honeywell N1 Digital Electronic Engine Controls (DEEC); 1 Flight Management System (FMS); and 1 Honeywell KGP-56 Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS).At 1452, the surface weather observation at TEB was: wind 350 degrees at 20 knots gusting to 30 knots; 10 miles visibility; scattered clouds at 4,500 ft; temperature 19 degrees C; dew point 6 degrees C; altimeter 29.75 inches of mercury.The TEB automated terminal information services (ATIS) Z was in effect at the time of the accident. The 1451 ATIS Information Z stated that the current weather was: wind 350 degrees at 18 knots gusting to 29 knots; visibility 10; light rain, 5,500 ft scattered; temperature 18 degrees C; dew point 6 degrees C; altimeter 29.74 inches of mercury. ILS Runway 6 circle approach in use…Low level wind shear advisory in effect… ." Aircraft and Owner/Operator InformationAircraft Manufacturer: GATES LEARJETRegistration: N452DAModel/Series: 35AAircraft Category: AirplaneAmateur Built: NoOperator: Trans-Pacific Air Charter LLCOperating Certificate(s) Held: On-demand Air Taxi (135)Operator Does Business As: Trans-Pacific JetsOperator Designator Code: 1QUA Meteorological Information and Flight PlanConditions at Accident Site: Visual ConditionsCondition of Light: DayObservation Facility, Elevation: TEB, 8 ft mslObservation Time: 1452 EDTDistance from Accident Site: 1 Nautical MilesTemperature/Dew Point: 19°C / 6°CLowest Cloud Condition: Scattered / 4500 ft aglWind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 20 knots/ 30 knots, 350°Lowest Ceiling: NoneVisibility: 10 MilesAltimeter Setting: 29.75 inches HgType of Flight Plan Filed: IFRDeparture Point: Philadelphia, PA (PHL)Destination: Teterboro, NJ (TEB) Wreckage and Impact InformationCrew Injuries: 2 FatalAircraft Damage: DestroyedPassenger Injuries: N/AAircraft Fire: On-GroundGround Injuries: N/AAircraft Explosion: On-GroundTotal Injuries: 2 FatalLatitude, Longitude: 40.829444, -74.060278

Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board investigation may contact them by email eyewitnessreport@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov.

CARLSTADT - A smattering of details about the pilot crop up in a handful of online media reports.The man was from the Western United States and worked for Hawaii-based Trans-Pacific Jets for about one year. He was older than his 33-year-old co-pilot and had 15 to 20 years of flying experience.The man worked for a variety of charter companies. According to public records, the aircraft he flew was built in 1981 and owned by A&C Big Sky Aviation LLC in Billings, Montana.Still, a full month later, authorities have not released the name of the pilot of the LearJet 35 that crashed May 15 in Carlstadt on approach to Teterboro Airport.The fiery accident killed First Officer Jeffrey Alino of Union, who was identified by fingerprints, and Alino's piloting partner, who remains unidentified."It's weird," said Joe Orlando, spokesman for the borough of Carlstadt. "You would think after all this time we would have heard something. I can't figure out why we only have one name."The NTSB will examine the plane's cockpit voice recorder, which was recovered from the plane that crashed near Teterboro Airport.While Alino was identified through print analysis, Bergen County and federal officials have said the pilot's remains were too badly burned for anything other than DNA testing.A cockpit voice recorder, which was recovered by the National Transportation Safety Board after the crash, was found intact and should contain the voices of both pilots.However, neither the recorder nor a transcript of its contents have been made public."We have an idea of who both pilots are," Jim Silliman, a senior NTSB investigator, said a day after the fatal crash. "But confirmation is something we don't have right now."At the time of the accident, county officials said investigators would rely on DNA testing to confirm the man's identity. Those tests are being conducted by a state forensics team in Trenton, a county official said.Asked this week why, a month later, the pilot's name still has not been released, a spokesman stated in an email: "DNA testing can take a long time when there is no body."Orlando, who was at the accident scene, concurred."The scene was pretty brutal," Orlando said.The U.S. Department of Justice in 2005 published a guide on genome research so families of victims could understand how DNA is used to identify their loved ones."The process of identifying a victim might be relatively quick or it can be quite lengthy," the department states in "Identifying Victims Using DNA: A Guide for Families."DNA can be isolated from human remains found at a disaster site and then matched to DNA known to be from the victim - such as the victim's prior bloodwork or personal items."In some instances, not every victim can be identified," states the Department of Justice.Forensic scientist and DNA expert Lawrence Kobilinsky, who has not worked on the Teterboro case, said Tuesday he finds it odd the pilot's name has not been released."I would find it hard to believe in a plane crash there is no identifiable DNA," said Kobilinsky, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice."If the fire department put out the fire in a reasonable amount of time, there is usually teeth or bone -- those are good sources of DNA," Kobilinsky said.Kobilinsky said if a fingerprint was recovered from one victim, there should have been recoverable DNA from the other."Did the fire burn hotter in one area than another?" Kobilinsky asked. "Usually it does not."A blaze would have to roar for hours at temperatures of at least 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit to completely disintegrate a human body, the professor said.According to an NTSB preliminary report, the LearJet was on approach to Teterboro when it turned late and banked hard during an attempted landing, clipped some buildings and burst into flames as it crashed on Kero Road.In addition to the late turn, investigators are looking at high winds prevalent in the Northeast that day.Original article can be found here: http://www.nj.com

Adam Gerhardt, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, holds the cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage of a fatal plane crash in Carlstadt on May 15, 2017.

Jeffrey Alino

Jeffrey Alino, 33, of Union, New Jersey was the co-pilot and William Ramsey, 56, of Salt Lake City, Utah, was the pilot.

CARLSTADT - One of the pilots killed when a Learjet crashed about a quarter-mile short of Teterboro Airport on Monday was a Union native who attended the township's high school.A spokesman for Bergen County confirmed that Jeffrey Alino, 33, was the co-pilot of the jet. The pilot had not yet been identified late Wednesday afternoon.Earlier Wednesday, at Alino's childhood home, relatives had gathered and were planning a funeral.Alino's mother, Rosario Lim, said though she had not officially been notified by authorities that her son was aboard the plane, the family was working under the assumption that the 33-year-old was killed in the crash."He was very loved," she said.Other friends and family members took to social media to remember Alino."I am at a loss for words. Finding out that my cousin was one of the two crew members on the Learjet that crashed in Teterboro," wrote Janice Snaer of Santa Clarita, California. "We just spoke about planning a cruise together."Public records show Alino, who now lives in Los Angeles, was a certified commercial airline pilot. The company that chartered the plane, Trans-Pacific Jets, told Newsday that the pilot, a Salt Lake City resident, had 15 years of flying experience, while the co-pilot, who they said was from New Jersey, was a four-year veteran.Alino's profile on Bark, a website for professional services, says that he was briefly a flight attendant for Midwest Airlines before becoming a local pilot in Texas and Louisiana. Alino had a brush with disaster in 2010 while learning to fly in Texas, according to Statesman.com. Another pilot was instructing Alino, who was then a student pilot, when their single engine aircraft ran into problems, forcing the pair to make an emergency landing in an open field.The 33-year-old also served in the Civil Air Patrol.The Learjet 35, bound for Teterboro from Philadelphia, crashed into the parking lot of the Carlstadt Department of Public Works on Kero Road around 3:30 p.m. while making its final approach to the airport.NTSB investigators have acknowledge the plane was flying in high winds but have not determined a cause for the crash. It is reviewing the contents of the cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage.The plane burst into flames when it hit the ground, setting three buildings and more than a dozen cars on fire. No injuries were reported on the ground.Original article can be found here: http://www.nj.com

February 2010: Pilot Jerry White was instructing student Jeff Alino in instrument navigation when they incurred a problem with their single-engine aircraft causing them to make an emergency landing in an open field along the southbound lanes of Texas Toll Road 130 just south of FM 812 and south of ABIA. White's daughter Jenna, 6, was asleep the entire time in the backseat as the two pilots combined to make a perfect safety landing. There were no injuries and minor damage to the plane.

The sky was clear. Visibility stretched as far as 10 miles. And no thunderstorms were anywhere near northern New Jersey on Monday afternoon when a Learjet 35A crashed and burst into flames as it was approaching Teterboro Airport.But two weather conditions that could make landings tricky for pilots were reported shortly before the fatal crash: Strong wind gusts and low-level wind shear. Although investigators don't yet know whether these factors played a role in Monday's crash, which killed the plane's two occupants, wind likely will be high on the list of suspected causes, according to an aviation expert who has been flying planes for almost 30 years.During an afternoon news briefing, the National Transportation Safety Board said that though it was too soon to tell what caused the crash, strong wind gusts blowing through lower Bergen County at the time of the accident would have complicated the landing. "The wind at the time of the accident is a concern," said Jim Silliman, investigator in charge for the NTSB.Anthony Roman, a commercial pilot and former corporate pilot who heads a global investigation and security consulting company based on Long Island, said wind shear and strong wind gusts can cause a problem known as aerodynamic stall. Essentially, the smooth flow of air over the wings is required to sustain a plane's lift, Roman explained. Strong wind gusts or wind shear -- when winds suddenly change their speed or direction over a short distance -- can mess up a smooth flight or a smooth landing. "If the wind goes over the top of the wings and breaks like a wave at the shoreline of a beach, that causes the wings to lose lift and causes the plane to fall precipitously," Roman said. "That's an aerodynamic stall."Based on video footage of Monday's approach of the twin-engine Learjet 35A near Teterboro Airport, Roman said there were indications of a stall. "The plane was in a turn to final (approach) and, based on what I saw in the video, it appears likely a wing was down lower than the other wing, which is typical of a stall, an aerodynamic stall."Based on the weather conditions reported by the National Weather Service and by other pilots who were flying in the Teterboro area Monday afternoon, Roman said the Learjet would have needed to add 10 knots to its landing speed."Flyer acquaintances of mine who were flying into Teterboro at that general time (Monday afternoon) reported to me that the wind was causing them to slightly overshoot the final approach," Roman said. "They had to make sharper turns to line up" on the runway. About 10 minutes prior to the crash, the pilot of an aircraft that was taking off from Teterboro on a different runway experienced wind shear and reported that to the control tower.Aviation weather records from the National Weather Service indicate that a commuter jet about the same size as a Learjet lost 20 knots in its speed because of low-level wind shear at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, N.Y. at 3:13 p.m. Monday. Low-level wind shear was also reported at 4:15 p.m. Monday by a plane making its final approach at Newark Liberty, records show. That's just one of the many factors that investigators will be looking into, as a matter of routine, Roman said. Investigators also will be checking the flight crew's training history, whether they had trouble flying in windy conditions in the past, how many hours they spent flying in this particular aircraft, how many hours of sleep they got before they started Monday's work shift, and whether any medical issues or medications could have affected their flying ability.Roman said investigators also will check into whether the flight crew was familiar with Teterboro Airport, which he described as "a particularly demanding airport to land in" because it's in a highly congested air space, just several miles away from flights going in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.Experience is a key factorEven though winds were gusting as high as 39 mph and pilots of other planes had reported wind shear prior to the fatal crash, Roman said those types of conditions are not unusual during the spring, and experienced pilots should be capable of safely landing planes.The key, however, is knowing how to adjust the plane's speed during the final turn and approach to the runway, he said. Pilots are trained to alter their speed a certain number of knots per hour based on the speed of sustained winds and wind gusts that are reported by air traffic controllers and other pilots."It's crucial for the proper airspeed to make that final turn, and wind gusts and wind shear can adversely affect air speed," Roman said. "That is particularly critical during the turn, specifically during low altitude on the final approach. That's because you're at a lower air speed, you're turning the aircraft, and in gusty conditions the wind currents going over the wings is varying."Roman, the president of Roman & Associates, said those types of occurrences are not unusual, especially during the spring and fall months, and most pilots know how to compensate for the sudden shifts in aircraft speed.Another aviation expert said variations in weather conditions are something that makes flying challenging."As we know with weather, things can change very quickly," said Doug Carr, vice president of regulatory and international affairs for the National Business Aviation Association, based in Washington, DC. "What could have been an issue five minutes ago might not be an issue now."Read more here: http://www.nj.com

Jim Silliman, a senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, speaks with reporters on Tuesday about the fatal crash of a Learjet 35A.

Even for an experienced pilot with years of flight time, it's still one of the scariest things that can happen aloft: a rogue gust of wind when you're poised to land."In many ways, the landing position is the most vulnerable,'' said William Waldock, an instructor who specializes in crash studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona. "You're already going slow. You're low and getting lower quickly. An unexpected jolt of wind on the wing, a downburst, you've got to react fast.''Investigators are just beginning to piece together the final moments of the Learjet 35A that crashed in Carlstadt approaching Runway 1 at Teterboro Airport, killing the pilot and a second crew member, who were the only people onboard. It will take weeks for a preliminary cause to be found and typically a year before a final report on the accident will be issued by the National Transportation Safety Board.But experts interviewed Wednesday homed in on wind gusts that reached 40 miles per hour the afternoon of the crash as a high-pressure system chased away a cold front that had dominated the weekend weather, leaving Bergen County under a wind advisory.J.P. Tristani, a former Eastern Airlines pilot who has flown for 43 years, said conditions were ripe for shearing winds that could creep up and tip a plane's nose or flip up a wing."A steady wind of even 40 miles per hour at your nose is very manageable and should present no problem to the pilot,'' Tristani said. "But a sudden gust from a different direction could present a challenge.''Reports of witnesses who said the Learjet appeared to bank suddenly only about 400 yards off the runway, Tristani said, may reflect the last-ditch countermeasures of a captain caught unawares in an unsettled atmosphere."When you find yourself in that position, you've literally got seconds to respond, and the response has to be right,'' Tristani said. "It's something everyone practices hours for in the flight simulator, and sooner or later everyone faces it.''Joseph Blakaitis, a flight instructor who taught in New Jersey for decades before moving to North Carolina, said he has flown into Teterboro countless times and has piloted through hairy ground shear situations several times.The keys, he said, are judgment and speed: the judgment to know when to attempt landing in windy conditions, and the speed to react if you've made the wrong decision."And most important is the speed of your airplane if you've got to abort the landing,'' Blakaitis said. "You've got to gun it and get out of danger as fast as you can.''Waldock put it a little differently:"The best way to get out of situations like that is to fire all throttles and get out of dodge," he said. "Speed is life."In studying photographs of the crash site and views of the Learjet's approach to Teterboro, Waldock spotted something else that might have contributed to the unstable atmosphere: a sea of black tarred roofs in the industrial area beneath the approach.On a cloudless day like Tuesday, he said, those roofs were certainly reflecting plenty of heat from the mid-May sun."As a pilot, you learn that black means heat waves, and heat waves could mean turbulence,'' Waldock said. "On a day with considerable gusting, I am sure investigators will be looking at heat turbulence, too. All that has to be considered.''Tristani, who consulted on the film "Sully," about the 2009 crash landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River and survival of all 155 aboard, said flight simulators do an eerily good job of replicating wind shear conditions that can imperil aircraft.All pilots, he said, are required to train in such simulators and learn to fly through the characteristic bumps and jolts of the wind. But pilots, like all people, react differently under stress and come to the cockpit with varying levels of experience.In the end, he said, the quality of a pilot and his or her accumulated air wisdom, or lack of it, can mean the difference between life and death. Chesley Sullenberger, the hero of Flight 1549, was the right pilot at the right time. At another time, he might not have made it, Tristani said."When you talk about things like the wind, there is a random nature that you cannot always predict — you can only react,'' he said.Original article can be found here: http://www.northjersey.com

National Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Jim Silliman speaks at a press conference updating the status of the investigation into the plane crash that occurred in Carlstadt on Monday.

MOONACHIE - A senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board says a plane preparing to land at Teterboro Airport Monday was on a routine flight from Philadelphia until the last few moments, when it inexplicably went "out of control" and crashed, killing two people."There wasn't anything out of the ordinary up until then," said Jim Silliman, an NTSB investigator. "But it would appear that the aircraft, at that last moment, was out of control. Why it got there is the subject of our investigation."The Learjet 35A glanced off a building and crashed at 3:30 p.m. into a parking lot near the Carlstadt Department of Public Works on Kero Road. The plane exploded, setting fire to three buildings and more than a dozen vehicles.There were no injuries on the ground.The accident scene is about one-quarter mile from the airport.Silliman said during a press conference in Moonachie the plane was on a final approach to land on Runway 1 at Teterboro Airport and that communications between the pilot and air-traffic controllers was normal.But security video obtained by the NTSB from businesses show the plane turning sharp right with its wing low and nose down as it explodes into the ground in a parking lot on Kero Road.Wreckage scattered over an area 440-feet by 100-feet, Silliman said. An entire block was cordoned off to the public Tuesday.A cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the wreckage and is being shipped to NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C., Silliman said."This aircraft was not required to have a flight data recorder, so we do not have that," Silliman said. "We are fortunate that the aircraft did have a cockpit voice recorder."Silliman said the remains of the aircraft and its engines will soon be moved to a "secure location for further examination.""We will also gather information on the pilots' records, the aircraft maintenance records and the weather at the time of the accident," he said.Silliman said winds on Monday afternoon were at 16 knots with gusts of more than 30 mph."The air traffic controllers tried to get the aircraft into the wind as much as possible so there's no crosswind and that the gusts would not be a problem," Silliman said. "However, there's only so much they can do."Silliman pointed out that other pilots navigated Monday's winds without a problem."Pilots in the area were dealing with the same winds - not just this airport, but at all airports in this Northeast region," he said.The names of the pilot and co-pilot were not released because a medical examiner is attempting to confirm their identities, Silliman said.The aircraft was built in 1981. It is registered to A&C Big Sky Aviation LLC in Billings, Montana, according to FAA records.The aircraft was being flown by Trans-Pacific Jets, a charter aircraft company based in Honolulu, the jet's owner said in an interview with Bloomberg. Chandra Hanson of Billings, Montana, told Bloomberg she owns the plane with her husband Brad. The Hansons fly on the aircraft, which is based in Salt Lake City, and allow it to be flown for hire when it's not in use, according to Bloomberg.The initial investigation is expected to last three or four days, Silliman said.The NTSB could take 12-18 months to determine a cause for the accident."There are numerous things we'll be looking at and that's why we have to take a very step-by-step approach," Silliman said. "We can't overlook anything because there are a lot of possibilities."Read more here: http://www.nj.com

CARLSTADT, New Jersey (WABC) -- Federal investigators say the cockpit voice recorder has been recovered from a jet that crashed near a small airport in New Jersey, killing two crew members.Jim Silliman with the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday afternoon that the voice recorder had been recovered and was being shipped to NTSB headquarters. He says the flight wasn't required to have a data recorder.He says the wind at the time of the crash "was a concern." Winds were gusting at more than 30 mph around the time of the crash.Silliman says controllers would have tried to have the plane head into the wind to avoid crosswind."The right wing down and nose down. From what we can see from the small portion of video we have seen, it would seem that the aircraft was at that moment, out of control," Silliman said. "That would not be something a pilot would be doing. That would indicate the aircraft at the very last moment was out of control. How it got there is the subject of the investigation."The crew members were killed when the Learjet 35 crashed among small warehouses and industrial buildings Monday around 3:30 p.m. in Carlstadt and burst into flames, a quarter-mile from the runway at Teterboro Airport. There were no passengers aboard and no one on the ground was reported injured.The Medical Examiner is working to determine the identity of the victims. The FAA and the NTSB were at the scene on Tuesday.There was no indication in radio communications with the tower that there was anything wrong before the plane dove into the area and burst into flames.In the final moments, witnesses saw the plane low in the air and in trouble.Surveillance video from a nearby business shows the moment of impact and then a huge fireball. A man can be seen running across a parking lot toward the crash site as thick, black smoke spews into the air."It hit three buildings. There are just pieces of the plane all throughout the yard, melted cars that were parked here," said Joe Orlando, spokesman for the borough of Carlstadt. "It's really almost impossible to describe."Two of the three buildings involved in the crash sustained fire damage.Emergency responders worked for more than an hour to extinguish the blaze, which left a smoldering wreckage of cars in a parking lot. Investigators said 16 vehicles also were damaged.It happened in an industrial area where public works employees had just left. Others in the area ran for their lives.The plane was registered in Billings, Montana, to a company called A&C Big Sky Aviation, which has a residential address. The owners of the residence are Daniel and Julane Wells. The owners rented the plane out for charters.The airport was closed after the crash. Departing flights resumed in the evening, but no arriving flights were allowed.The jet had flown from Teterboro to Bedford, Mass., early Monday morning. It then flew to Philadelphia later Monday morning before leaving for Teterboro in the afternoon. It was just about to land at Teterboro before the crash.Story, video and photo gallery: http://abc7ny.com

Federal investigators said on Tuesday that they had recovered a cockpit voice recorder from the Learjet that crashed in Carlstadt as it approached Teterboro Airport, killing both crewmembers, and that wind conditions at the time were difficult.Jim Silliman, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said at an afternoon press conference that the plane left a debris field that was 440 feet long and 100 feet wide.The crash and resulting fire damaged three buildings and 16 cars, he said, adding that there were cross winds and gusting winds when the plane plunged from the sky at about 3:30 p.m. Monday.“Airplanes land in cross winds every day,” he said. “Gusts make it harder, and the gusts were high.”The twin-engine plane, a 1981 Learjet 35, was registered to a company called A&C Big Sky Aviation, of Billings, Mont., according to an FAA database.The owners of the company are Amy Smith and Chandra Hanson of Billings, according to Montana state records. The owners did not respond to requests for comment on Monday and Tuesday.The owners, when not using the plane themselves, leased the jet to a charter company, Trans-Pacific Jets, which began operating in 2013 and is based in Honolulu.A spokesman for the charter company said the pilot, who had been with the company for about a year, and co-pilot had decided to spend the night at a hotel they were familiar with in New York rather than stay overnight in Philadelphia.They were bringing the plane to Teterboro to reposition it for additional charter flights scheduled for later in the week. He declined to identify the pilot or co-pilot.The captain, he said, had at least 20 years of experience as a pilot with various charter operators in the western United States, and flew that particular plane quite a bit. The co-pilot had about four years of piloting experience with charter companies that operated mainly in New Mexico and Arizona, the spokesman said.He said the plane was last inspected in February at a large independent maintenance facility and had been flown without issues. It is a common practice in the industry for private jet owners to lease their planes out to charter companies to generate extra revenue when not using it, he said.Silliman, who is in charge of the NTSB investigation, said investigators believe they know the identity of the pilots but declined to reveal their identities during the press conference. Bergen County authorities said that Medical Examiner’s Office was still working to make positive identifications.Surveillance video from local businesses shows the plane’s right wing was at a sharp low angle and the nose was down as it hit the ground, Silliman said.“The aircraft was out of control,” he said.He said it appeared that the plane glanced off one building just before crashing into the borough’s DPW parking lot. The last DPW worker left the building and closed the gate to the parking lot just 15 minutes before the crash.The NTSB is working with the FAA, as well as Bombardier, the plane’s manufacturer, and Honeywell, which made the engines, Silliman said.On approach while talking to the control tower, the pilots did not express any sense of having an emergency or a problem with the aircraft, Silliman said. They were cleared to land, and then there was no further communication.Air traffic in the area around Teterboro was moderate and not out of the ordinary at the time of the crash, Silliman said.However, just minutes before the Learjet plunged from the sky, another pilot taking off from runway 24 reported wind shear to the Teterboro tower after taking off Monday. Eyewitnesses on Monday said the Learjet appeared to be coming in low and struck power lines before clipping buildings in an industrial area of the borough that often bustles with activity in the afternoon.The Port Authority had reopened Teterboro Airport for outbound flights by 7 p.m. Monday, and for incoming flights by 8:30 p.m., according to an agency spokesperson.The Learjet had taken off Monday from Philadelphia International Airport, where it was being serviced by a company called Atlantic Aviation, which provides refueling and ground services for corporate and private planes.John Butterworth, a general manager of Atlantic Aviation in Philadelphia, said the plane arrived at 11 a.m. and dropped off four people. He said the pilots chose not to refuel for the flight to Teterboro and took off about 3 p.m.The plane started Monday in Teterboro, taking off at 7:32 a.m. on its way to Laurence G. Hanscom Field New Bedford, Mass., according to FlightAware. It arrived in Philadelphia shortly after 11 a.m.The plane was scheduled to take off on its way to Teterboro at 2:30 p.m. but was delayed 34 minutes. The delay caused its scheduled arrival at Teterboro on Monday to be pushed back from 2:44 to 3:32 p.m.Story, video and photo gallery: http://www.northjersey.com

MOONACHIE, N.J. (AP) - A plane that crashed near a small airport outside New York City, killing two crew members, didn't report any problems to air traffic controllers a minute before it nosedived, a federal investigator said Tuesday.The Learjet crash Monday afternoon in an industrial area near Teterboro Airport caused a fire that damaged two buildings and burned 16 cars in a parking lot. The plane struck a building, but no one on the ground was injured.Jim Silliman, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said Tuesday it appeared from air traffic control audio tapes that the plane's approach was going smoothly right before the crash."It seemed they were talking to the aircraft while it was on approach and the pilots didn't give any sense of an extreme situation or identify any problem with the aircraft at the time," he said.Silliman said the voice recorder had been recovered and was being shipped to NTSB headquarters. He said the flight wasn't required to have a data recorder.He said the wind at the time of the crash "was a concern." Winds were gusting at more than 30 mph and controllers would have tried to have the plane head into the wind to avoid crosswind.The plane was listing to the right with its nose down at the time of impact, indicating it was out of control, Silliman added, referring to video that shows the plane crashing into the ground nose-first. "Why it got there is of course the subject of the investigation," he said.The crash has dredged up dormant fears among residents who live within yards of where corporate jets take off and land.The airport sits in a densely populated area just north of MetLife Stadium, home to the NFL's Jets and Giants, and has been a battleground over the years over the types and number of planes that should be allowed to land there.Residents of a community of trailer homes that sits across a street from the end of one of Teterboro's runways are accustomed to the sound of planes taking off and landing.John Falbo, who has lived in the New Jersey community for four years, said he can even smell the jet fuel as the planes pass by. Planes skirt one side of the development, but helicopters pass right over, he said.Monday's crash "hit so close," Falbo said. "If it had hit here, this place would have gone up like a Roman candle."New Jersey lawmakers, most notably former Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, have successfully fought off attempts by the Federal Aviation Administration to allow business jets weighing more than 100,000 pounds to use Teterboro. Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez recently wrote a federal budget measure to continue that restriction. Teterboro, which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the oldest operating airport in the New York City area.Over the years, air carriers have agreed to a nighttime curfew and a ban on the noisiest planes at the airport. That hasn't altered the fundamental equation for people who live nearby, said Mark Pfeifle, who also lives across the road from the runway.Pfeifle said Monday's crash reminded him of the potential dangers."It could have hit us and could have took our homes out," he said. "A lot of people in here don't exactly have a lot of money, and it could have done a lot of damage."Surveillance video from a nearby business shows the moment of impact and then a huge fireball. A man can be seen running across a parking lot toward the crash site as thick, black smoke spews into the air.The two pilots involved in Monday's deadly crash were employed for about a year by Honolulu-based Trans-Pacific Jets, according to company spokesman Ryan Frost. Frost and Silliman both declined to release their names. Frost said that the captain had more than 15 years of experience and had previously flown the same plane for another company. The other pilot had about three or four years of experience.He said the two were returning to Teterboro to stay in a hotel after earlier flying from Teterboro to Bedford, Massachusetts, and then onto Philadelphia."The captain and the crew were fully trained, highly experienced professionals and it's a tragedy for the company," Frost said. "They were very experienced in both that type of aircraft, and actually they flew that particular aircraft quite a bit."

BILLINGS, Montana - A plane crashed near Teterboro Airport Monday killing its pilot and co-pilot. Authorities say a Learjet 35A took off in Philadelphia and crashed less than a mile from Teterboro Airport. The pilot and co-pilot's identities have not been released. According to publicly available aviation records, the plane was registered to a A&C Big Sky Aviation LLC in July, 2014. That registration is due to expire June 30.However, Dr. John Smith with the Laurel Municipal Airport (6S8) tells KULR-8 A&C Big Sky Aviation LLC is no longer in business. Smith tells KULR-8 A&C Big Sky Aviation LLC closed its doors several years ago. After the business closed, the aircraft continued to fly in and out of Billings Logan International Airport. According to flight records dating back to February 28th, the plane flew in and out of Billings five times. The plane also flew out of Jackson Hole, WY and Missoula. The most recent flight out of Billings was March 31 with the aircraft flying into Salt Lake City, UT. Our records search shows the plane was not unknown to Teterboro Airport. In that same time frame, it flew into that airport five different times. The only other airport where the plane landed more than three times was Van Nuys in California. Story and video: http://www.kulr8.com

CARLSTADT -- A Learjet 35A crashed in an industrial area of Carlstadt on Monday afternoon while making its final approach to Teterboro Airport, killing two crew members on board.The Federal Aviation Administration said the crash occurred at 3:30 p.m., about a quarter of a mile southeast of the airport. The only people on board, the pilot and another crew member, were killed in the crash, Carlstadt Police said.The Learjet 35, which departed from Philadelphia International Airport, crashed into the parking lot of the Carlstadt Department of Public Works on Kero Road. A large plume of smoke could be seen rising from the wreckage as people on the ground scrambled to safety and rescue workers sped to the scene.Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were scheduled to arrive in Carlstadt on Tuesday morning to join the probe, said Terry Williams, a spokesman for the agency."We were sitting in our building, and we felt the whole building shake. We went outside, and there was black smoke. Thick black smoke," said Mark Dykstra, 37, who lives in a building across the street from where the plane crashed."There was nothing left," said Nicholas Hill, a worker with the Bergen County DPW. "The plane is gone. There is nothing."Deputy Carlstadt Police Chief Tom Barton said during a news conference early Monday night that he had no reports of injuries on the ground. He said work on putting out fires in buildings near the crash site was "90 percent done."Carlstadt Mayor Craig Lahullier said the last employee at the DPW "left the building at 3:15."According to FAA records, the plane -- a fixed wing, multi-engine craft manufactured in 1981 -- is registered to a company named A&C Big Sky Aviation, based in Billings, Montana.Chatter in the aircraft control tower was calm in the moments leading up to the crash, with pilots requesting permission to land and trading reports on weather conditions with controllers in the tower.Around 3:30, the tone changed suddenly."A Learjet just crashed," a voice can be heard saying."Airport's closed! Airport's closed!" an air traffic controller shouts moments later, sounding alarmed and tense. The transmission goes dark for a few moments before another pilot says he will hold his position. The air traffic controller, sounding shaken, replies, pausing several times."Yeah everyone just ... the airport's closed," the controller says. "Everyone just ... stop taxiing right now."In the hours before the crash, a wind advisory was in effect in Bergen County because of gusty winds generated by the friction between a low-pressure system that was leaving the region and a high-pressure system moving in.At 3 p.m., despite sunny skies and good visibility, winds at Teterboro Airport were blowing in from the northwest at 15 mph and gusting as high as 39 mph, according to Carlie Buccola, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's regional office in Upton, N.Y.It is not clear if high winds played a role in the crash.Gusty winds were also reported Monday afternoon at other airports in the region, including Newark Liberty International Airport. Newark Liberty had a peak wind gust of 32 mph at 3 p.m.Workers at Allied Beverage Group, which has offices and a warehouse just east of the crash site, said they could see a piece of the aircraft protruding from a damaged building.The building was engulfed in dark smoke, and several cars appear to have been struck as well. Workers there said they are used to low-flying planes."Sometimes when I'm out there walking, I feel like I can almost look in the windows they're so close," said Cathy Lamola.Story and photo gallery: http://www.nj.com

Just minutes after another pilot reported wind shear upon takeoff, a Learjet 35A on its way to Teterboro Airport plunged from the sky in Carlstadt — causing a loud explosion and multiple fires as people on the ground scrambled to safety while the plane disintegrated in a fireball in the parking lot of the borough’s public works building.The plane’s two crew members died in the crash, authorities said.But remarkably, despite a devastating scene that included flames and black smoke billowing from two buildings, damage to 13 vehicles — many of which were on fire —and the remnants of the plane scattered across multiple parking lots, no one on the ground was injured.Eyewitnesses said the plane appeared to be coming in low and struck power lines before clipping buildings in an industrial area of the borough that often bustles with activity in the afternoon.The crash took place during a period of high wind gusts, although federal authorities did not provide information about what might have caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board was expected to arrive on the scene Tuesday to begin its investigation, a process that can take more than a year to complete. The NTSB typically releases preliminary reports weeks after a crash.Local authorities did not release information about the two people who were killed on the plane, saying at a 9 p.m. Monday press conference that the Bergen County medical examiner was working to identify them. They said that any further information about the crash would come from the Federal Aviation Administration or the NTSB.Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco said it was "somewhat a miracle" that no one on the ground was injured. Carlstadt Deputy Police Chief Thomas Berta said the tragedy could have been compounded, given the location.“Our industrial area is congested heavily during the day,” Berta said at a press conference at the Teterboro Airport Administration Building. “Thank God nobody [on the ground] was injured.”Craig Lahullier, the Carlstadt mayor, said he initially feared that borough workers at the DPW building might have been hurt. But when he got to the scene, the building was empty, he said. The last employee had left the building just 15 minutes before the crash occurred at about 3:30 p.m.“I tell you, it’s a miracle that [the DP workers] were all out of there at that time,” Lahullier said. He added that the plane, which came to rest in the DPW parking lot, “was “pretty much disintegrated.”Firefighters battled multiple blazes and had put them out in about 40 minutes, said a borough spokesman, Joe Orlando. Berta said workers evacuated from buildings “involved in the fire” and that authorities had accounted for all of the occupants “so it appears we have no one on the ground that was injured in any way.”The FAA said the plane — a Learjet 35 that can hold up to seven people — was making its approach to Runway 1 at Teterboro at about 3:30 p.m. when it went down about one-quarter of a mile south of the airport.The Learjet 35A was registered to a company called A&C Big Sky Aviation, of Billings, Montana, according to an FAA database. The company could not be reached for comment Monday.The plane had taken off from Philadelphia International Airport where it was being serviced by a company called Atlantic Aviation, a spokeswoman with the Philadelphia airport said. Officials from the company, which also operates at Teterboro, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Alexander Lawrence, who works at Pioneer Industries near the crash site, said that he hears planes headed to Teterboro all day long but that this one "was too close.” He said it hit the corner of a building and bounced off, crashing in a “ball of fire.""I couldn't believe it,” he said.Johanna Pulido, who works at United Paper in the 99 Kero Road building, said the plane hit power lines as it came down, and that she and other workers evacuated in the immediate aftermath of the crash.“It was between our building and the DPW,” she said.The accident occurred amid wind advisories and gusts of up to 37 miles per hour between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. at Teterboro, according to the National Weather Service.At about 3:20 p.m., according to a recording of the air traffic control communications, a pilot taking off from Teterboro on runway 24 radioed the control tower to report wind shear, a change in wind velocity that can affect a plane’s direction.Andrew Barcia said he saw the plane "on its side" as it flew overhead.“It looked like it was heading toward the airport," he said. “I feel sorry for those people inside.”Naeem Majors, of Brooklyn, was working at Manhattan Door when the plane hit the building."We first heard the explosion and afterwards we saw that a plane had just hit the building, and we got out of there," he said. "I left my phone, I left my glasses. We left out of the other side of the building and our cars are totaled. It’s pretty bad.”Majors added that it could have been much worse had people been leaving at the time of the crash, with much of the damage occurring outside the building. “People usually leave around the time that it happened,” he said. “Luckily no one was in their cars or walking towards their cars.”Gustavo Yepez, of Westwood, who also works at Manhattan Door, said he heard a “loud boom” and that he felt the floor shaking beneath him.“The owner came inside and said, ‘get out.’ We looked at each other and got out. All we saw was flames. For a second, we thought it was like being in a movie. It still feels surreal. I feel shook still.”AOL co-founder Steve Case was on a plane at the airport when the crash occurred. He took a photo of billowing smoke in the distance and shared it on social media.“Plane just crashed trying to land at Teterboro Airport in NJ. Missed runway and landed in adjacent industrial area. Airport closed,” he wrote.Tedesco said that the crash did not lead him to question safety at the airport. He said that he is "very confident in the operations here at Teterboro," and added that it is "one of the safest airports in the country."He said that the FBI and the Sheriff’s Office were at the scene collecting evidence to assist the FAA, and that the Bergen County Technical High School Teterboro campus on Route 46 would be open with “support counseling for those that might need it.”Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said his office also was assisting in the investigation.Connie Bovino, chair of Hackensack’s condo and co-op advisory board, said she has been concerned about low-flying planes for some time. She favors a flight path that takes planes south along the Route 17 corridor, which she said would be less hazardous.“We’re concerned with the high-rises; we’re concerned with the hospital and the schools … they’re going over lower and lower,” Bovino said. “It’s a shame that something like this has to happen before they realize we’ve got to make changes. It’s crazy.”In 2005, a corporate jet taking off from Teterboro skidded across a runway, crashed through a fence, careened across the six lanes of Route 46, struck a car, and slammed into a clothing warehouse. The two pilots were seriously injured, as were two occupants in the car. A cabin aide, eight passengers, and one person in the building suffered minor injuries.Story and video: http://www.northjersey.com

Two people were killed when a Learjet 35A crashed as it was preparing to land at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport on Monday afternoon, setting off a fire that damaged buildings, police said.The deceased were crew members and the only ones aboard, said Sergeant Scott Jordan of the Carlstadt, New Jersey, police.The Learjet 35A crashed at 3:30 p.m. about one-quarter mile (0.4 kilometer) from the busy hub for corporate aviation near New York, according to an emailed statement from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The flight originated from Philadelphia International Airport.The aircraft was flying to the north toward runway 1 when the crash occurred, according to the FAA. Smoke could be seen rising from the scene and more than one structure caught fire.Trans-PacificThe aircraft was being flown by Trans-Pacific Jets, a charter aircraft company based in Honolulu, the jet’s owner said in an interview. Chandra Hanson of Billings, Montana, said she owns the plane with her husband Brad. The Hansons fly on the aircraft, which is based in Salt Lake City, and allow it to be flown for hire when it’s not in use, Hanson said in a telephone interview.The plane was being moved from Philadelphia to Teterboro, according to a person who answered the phone at Trans-Pacific who wouldn’t give his name.Hanson said she and her husband own A&C Big Sky Aviation LLC of Billings, Montana, which is the registered owner of the plane, according to the FAA records.The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to investigate, spokesman Christopher O’Neil said.The plane crashed on Kero Road and Commerce Road in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The airport was closed to all traffic as of 3:35 p.m., according to a notice on an FAA website.The airport was being buffeted by strong gusts at the time of the crash. An airport weather station reported winds of 17 miles (27 kilometers) per hour, gusting to 37 miles per hour, shortly after the crash.While it’s difficult to accurately track accident rates on high-performance small planes used for corporate aviation and charter flights, a Bloomberg examination of that sector found there were five times more fatal accidents compared to airline crashes from 2000 through 2014, according to National Transportation Safety Board data.Original article can be found here: https://www.bloomberg.com

A Learjet 35A attempting to land at a northern New Jersey airport flipped and crashed in a nearby industrial area Monday afternoon, killing two crew members and setting fire to buildings and vehicles, said authorities and officials with the aircraft’s charter service.
Witnesses reported seeing the plane flying erratically and flipping upside down before slamming into a door manufacturing warehouse and another commercial building about 3:30 p.m. in Carlstadt, a quarter mile south of the jet’s destination, Teterboro Airport, federal and local officials said.

Trans-Pacific Jets, which charters the plane, said the pilot and copilot died and were the only two aboard when they flew out of Philadelphia.Air traffic controllers said the two pilots did not issue a distress call before the crash, said a spokesman for the charter company, which is based in Hawaii and California.

There were no reports of injuries on the ground or anyone missing by early evening, local officials said at a news conference. Another news conference is scheduled for 9 p.m., officials said.

“It’s a miracle,” Carlstadt Mayor Craig Lahullier told reporters as he and police officials gave updates.

After the Learjet 35A crashed and burst into flames, columns of thick, black smoke billowing up could be seen for miles.

After the eight-seater slammed into the ground, employees at the two burning warehouses were able to evacuate, authorities said, and as the winds whipped the fire, the flames hopped to a nearby Carlstadt Borough public works property.

The fire tore through the public works parking lot, but not the public works building because it was set back from the road, the mayor said.

“It was very distressing,” Lahullier said. “I heard where [the crash] was and I said, ‘that’s right where the [public works building] is.”

Firefighters and hazmat units were expected to fully extinguish the inferno before darkness fell Monday. Local officials said it was still too hot to go inside the burned warehouses to search and confirm that no one else was injured.

The FAA is looking into the crash and investigators from the National Transportation and Safety Board were expected to arrive at the scene Tuesday morning.

The plane, registered to A&C Big Sky Aviation in Montana, was built in 1981, said its owner Chandra Hanson of Billings, Montana.

Hanson said she did not know the crew members or have details on the plane’s maintenance record because the charter company had leased it.

She said the plane had flown all across the country. The jet had flown out of Republic Airport in Farmingdale on May 5, according to FlightAware, an online tracking system.

Hanson said Trans-Pacific Jets is expected to give her more details on the crash and what may have caused it.

CARLSTADT, New Jersey (WABC) -- Two crew members were killed after a small plane crashed into an industrial area and burst into flames in New Jersey Monday afternoon.It happened just after 3:30 p.m. ET on Kero Road in Carlstadt, near Teterboro Airport -- a small airport located close to New York City.Officials said the Learjet 35A came from Philadelphia and was just about to land at Teterboro. There was no indication in the radio communication with the tower that there was anything wrong -- the plane simply dove into the the industrial area about a 1/4 mile from the airport and burst into flames. Two buildings caught fire as a result.Carlstadt spokesman Joe Orlando said two crew members on board -- believed to be the pilot and co-pilot -- were killed in the crash. No passengers were on board, and no people on the ground were injured.A person who worked in one of the buildings hit by the plane said the crash happened about 30 minutes after one of the businesses closed, so no one was inside. However, there were people in the second building -- and they were all able to get out safely.The FAA issued this statement shortly after the crash:"A Learjet 35 crashed on approach to Runway 1 at Teterboro Airport at 3:30 pm today. The aircraft went down about 1/4 mile from the airport in a residential area. The flight departed from Philadelphia International Airport and was headed to Teterboro. The FAA is enroute to the scene. Local authorities will release information about people on board the aircraft. We will update this statement when we get new information."Airport officials closed Teterboro Airport immediately after the crash. It reopened about three hours later.

Two crewmembers are dead after a Learjet 35A was on its way to Teterboro Airport from Philadelphia when it crashed into the roof of the Manhattan Door Corp. on Kero Road shortly after 3:30 p.m., authorities said. The fire quickly spread to a neighboring building, Carlstadt Police Sgt. Scott Jordan said.There were no other people on board the jet, Sgt. Jordan said. He said there were no reported injuries of civilians but there were some offices inside of the warehouse.The warehouse is less than a mile from the airport, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey said in a statement. Carlstadt is in Bergen County and neighbors East Rutherford.small plane crashed this afternoon in an industrial area in the northern New Jersey town of Carlstadt, police say.The Federal Aviation Administration said the Learjet 35A that was en route from Philadelphia International Airport to New Jersey's Teterboro Airport crashed at 3:30 p.m. while on approach to Runway 1 at Teterboro.The two crewmembers were the only people on board and it appears that no one on the ground was hit, police say.The plane, which is certified for 10 seats, left Philadelphia at 3:04 p.m. local time.The plane went down in a residential area about a quarter of a mile from the airport, the FAA said.Air traffic control audio suggests the flight was progressing smoothly until just before the crash. No mayday call appears to have been placed, and just 37 seconds after the pilot's last recorded communication with air traffic control, another pilot informs the tower, "a Learjet just crashed."

A Learjet 35A was on its way to Teterboro Airport from Philadelphia when it crashed into the roof of the Manhattan Door Corp. on Kero Road shortly after 3:30 p.m., authorities said. The fire quickly spread to a neighboring building, Carlstadt Police Sgt. Scott Jordan said.There were no other people on board the jet, Sgt. Jordan said. He said there were no reported injuries of civilians but there were some offices inside of the warehouse.The warehouse is less than a mile from the airport, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey said in a statement. Carlstadt is in Bergen County and neighbors East Rutherford.plane crashed into an industrial neighborhood in Carlstadt, New Jersey, while attempting to land at Teterboro Airport on Monday afternoon, killing two crew members on board, officials said. The crash set properties, cars and power lines ablaze, the Carlstadt Police Department said. Thick, black smoke was seen rising high above the crash site, and was visible as far away as New York City. "There's nothing really left of the plane at all - you just see the two engines that are burnt up and stuff," one man told News 4.Firefighters from multiple departments were responding to several building and car fires, officials said. Members of the FAA were also en route to the scene. The FAA said the Learjet 35A, which departed from Philadelphia International Airport, was approaching Runway 1 at Teterboro around 3:30 p.m. when it went down near Kero Road about 1/4 mile from the airport. Two crew members were killed in the crash, officials said. There were no passengers aboard.The plane's tail number is N452DA. It is registered to A&C Big Sky Aviation in Billings, Montana. It wasn't immediately clear who was operating the plane at the time of the crash. Steve Case, an entrepreneur and co-founder of AOL, wrote in an Instagram post that the plane appeared to have missed a turn and crashed a few hundred yards from the airport. He was aboard another plane at the airport at the time.A Carlstadt Police Dept. spokesman said the plane appeared to be leaning to its side before the crash. Spokesperson for Boro of Carlstadt Joe Orlando was at the scene as the plane came down. He said explosions were going off, cars were burning and pieces of the plane were scattered in a township facility. “Right now they’re trying to put the fires out on the building just next to us... we just keep having little explosions, it’s a crazy situation here,” he said.Orlando said the plane crashed near a Dept. of Public Works building on Kero Road. He said the plane appeared to have hit two separate properties, but that he didn't believe anyone on the ground was injured. “Parts of the plane are laying in the garage, I can see the engines, part of the fuselage. There’s just melted cars all over the place in our yard,” he said.Story and video: http://www.nbcnewyork.com

A Learjet 35A that had landed at a Massachusetts airport just hours earlier crashed near Teterboro Airport in New Jersey yesterday, killing two crew members and sparking a fire that sent thick, black smoke spewing into the air.There were no passengers aboard the Learjet 35A when it went down, hitting a building around 3:30 p.m. yesterday about a quarter-mile from the runway at Teterboro Airport, just west of New York City.A police officer at Carlstadt Police Department said no one on the ground was reported to have been injured. The officer said authorities are not yet releasing the names of those killed.Emergency responders reached the scene shortly after the crash and worked for more than an hour to extinguish the blaze.The plane hit a building in an industrial area, near a township facility, said Joe Orlando, a spokesman for the town of Carlstadt.He said pieces of melted engine could be seen in the charred wreckage, along with wheels and part of the fuselage. A Carlstadt police spokesman said the jet appeared to be listing to its side before it crashed. The cause of the crash is under investigation.According to a flight-tracking website, the plane flew from Teterboro early yesterday morning and made a two-hour stop in Bedford at Hanscom Airfield between 8 and 10 a.m. before it safely flew to Philadelphia. From there the plane, with only crew aboard, made its final run to Teterboro around 3 p.m. There was no immediate information on any passengers who might have flown from Bedford to Philadelphia. The FAA said in a statement that investigators were en route to the scene and the cause of the crash was unknown.The National Weather Service warned of strong winds with gusts up to 45 mph just before the plane went down.Story and video: http://www.bostonherald.comCARLSTADT, N.J. — A Learjet 35A struck a building and crashed while trying to land at Teterboro Airport on Monday, killing two crew members and sparking a fire that sent thick, black smoke spewing into the air, authorities said.Police said no passengers were aboard the Learjet 35A when it went down around 3:30 p.m. a quarter-mile from the runway at Teterboro Airport in a densely populated residential and industrial area. No one on the ground was reported to have been injured.Emergency responders worked for more than an hour to extinguish the blaze, which left a smoldering wreckage of cars in a parking lot.The plane was registered in Billings to a company called A&C Big Sky Aviation, which has a residential address. The owners of the residence are Daniel and Julane Wells. Reached by phone, Daniel Wells said neither he nor his wife have a financial interest in the plane. The airport was closed after the crash. Departing flights resumed in the evening, but no arriving flights were allowed.Mayor Craig Lahullier said all town employees already had left for the day before the plane crashed next to its Department of Public Works building."I tell ya, it's a miracle," he said. "Thank God the guys were out of there, that's all I can say."Town spokesman Joe Orlando said pieces of melted engine could be seen in the charred wreckage, along with wheels and part of the fuselage. Witnesses said they heard loud popping noises, apparently from car tires exploding in the heat and flames.Orlando had left the public works building about 15 minutes before the plane hit. When he returned, he saw the plane's engines on the ground."If this had happened 20 minutes earlier, people would have been at their cars," he said. "That was the first thing I thought of: 'I was just right there.' You could see the fan blades, the landing gear. Car tires were blown off."Mark Dykstra, who lives across the street from the crash site, told NJ.com he felt the impact of the crash."We were sitting in our building, and we felt the whole building shake," he said. "We went outside, and there was black smoke. Thick black smoke."Get news headlines sent daily to your inboxThe National Weather Service warned of strong winds with gusts up to 45 mph just before the plane went down. The cause of the crash was under investigation.The jet had flown from Teterboro to Bedford, Massachusetts, early Monday morning. It then flew to Philadelphia later Monday morning before leaving for Teterboro around 3 p.m.Original article can be found here: http://billingsgazette.com